Reading Response Post #3

I am currently taking a feminist class and I could not help but find the gendering of photography a particularly interesting topic in this chapter. While photography can be considered a democratic medium, it is interesting to consider the way it is marketed towards specific people and encouraged to be used in a particular way.  Amateur or professional photographers were usually masculine because supposedly they could better cope with the scientific complexities of the medium. Meanwhile, personal photographers were usually women capturing their domestic environments, the place where the woman was supposed to belong. Advertising specifically targeted the domestic female and connected with the gender roles perpetuated at the time. This is especially true after WW2 when women were encouraged to return to their domestic roles after playing such an active role in the work force on the home front. I strongly agree with the quote by Marianna Hirsch on page 157 where she emphasizes how photographs show what we want our lives to be rather than an honest depiction of what our lives are really like.

From here, it is interesting to consider how the photograph allows us to build histories of people who historically have been neglected i.e. women, the working class. The differences in the way the working class photograph themselves vs. the way an outsider photographs the working class emphasize the misleading nature of the photograph. This is summed up beautifully on the last sentence of page 165. Our most treasured photographs are important to us because they portray how we want to be seen. A photograph allows the user to feel the nostalgia of remembering the better times and mask any negative memories.

Q. How can personal photographs important in constructing a social history?

Google Reader Response #5

I am starting to realize that my favorite blog is Lenscratch. Once again the photographs that caught my eye this week were from this blog. The artist is called Clay Lipsky and his photographs capture the struggle for identity and the feeling of depression. The photographs were taken in Iceland, away from his home, enhancing the sense of alienation and struggle for identity. In one photograph the air appears oppressive and thick bearing down on the solitude figure. The dark tonal range reflects the search for the dawn of a new happier day. In another photograph, light pieces through the clouds on one desolate spot. The light seems tangible yet too distant to reach. The viewer stands in the surrounding darkness looking out to something brighter. These photographs have a heavy stillness and encourage the viewer to stop and contemplate their life. The single figure encapsulates the fear of being alone and emphasizes the quiet stillness of solitude and reflection. The photographs are aesthetically beautiful but leave the viewer feeling in awe yet sad. 

Reading Response Post #2

While today we generally realize that photographs are not truthful, the question of truth continues to be important in contemporary discussions of photography. A really interesting distinction is the denotative and connotative truth, something still important for photographers to consider. On page 72, the author discusses the politician’s preferences for denotative truth. By this she means the photographer stays faithful to the event and does not manipulate the picture or the contents in it. However, photographers often search for greater connotative truth focused on creating meaning through symbolism rather than an ‘honest’ representation of an event. I wonder which type of truth is more successful at making social change. Denotative truth has a degree of authenticity but often connotative truth provides the viewer with the tools to contemplate a bigger issue. This idea developed into a discussion of authenticity. The author argues that the idea of truth in photographs might come from society rather than anything intrinsic within the medium. This idea is so interesting because it suggests that are reactions to photograph are partly formed through social constructs. One more part that interested me was the analysis of colonialism and photography’s role perpetuating domination. The photograph allowed westerners to possess the subjects in the spaces and perceive them through the lens of the photographer focusing on what they want the viewer to see. Unfortunately, I think this type of objectification can still be found today.

Q. How do you feel about the transfer of power from photographer to editor (page 113)

Q. Is documentary photography still relevant and useful? 

Final Project 1st Images

For my first images I was interested in showing the repetitive nature of housing and architectural elements.  I hoped to take photographs appearing sterile and cold. The bright white of the buildings in conjunction with the idealized manufactured landscape creates a sense of unease for the viewer. I specifically took photographs from angles which make the buildings appear to go on forever. I wanted the viewer to imagine an endless landscape of the same architectural style. Over the weekend, I took the photographs on two different locations but all of the photographs above were taken at Baldwin Park. They seem to be much more successful than those at the other location because of the color of the buildings. White connotes purity and bliss but can also seem cold and harsh. Also, I started experimenting with exaggerating the colors in photoshop with the first photograph.  The color manipulation enhanced the sense of uneasiness and added a sense of sickliness to the image. 

Google Reader Response #4

I love the feeling of coming across photographs that grab you and move you from the moment you encounter them. That is exactly how I felt viewing Maila Elan’s series looking at homosexuality in Vietnam on the Lenscratch blog. They capture the most beautiful intimacy and she highlights the normalcy of their daily lives. From bathing to watching TV, she makes these figures familiar and almost recognizable. The artist eloquently discusses her desire to show the simplicity of love and affection. I can’t help but feel that with such a high divorce rate and the unhappy couples seen so frequently, that his message is an important one. Anyone who can successfully find another person (of what ever sex) should be given the opportunity to enjoy that love without fear of judgment. As the artist mentions, while homosexuals may not be persecuted, they are still not receiving the “recognition” or “encouragement” to enjoy and express their love. Her photographs shed light on the everyday lives of gay couples, often misunderstood, by taking candid photographs in their private homes. His overall aesthetic suggests intimacy rather than idealization. He focuses on the small gestures and details which hint at real affection between two people. In this sense, I think they are empowering and honest images. 

Google Reader Response 3

As I am considering the main project for the class, one idea I had was to zoom in closely into familiar or mundane surroundings and create abstract compositions. The blog post on UrbanAutica about Heidi Specker captured my eye because of the artist’s similar compositional ideas. The artist uses familiar spaces but zooms in close enough to draw the viewer’s attention to something usually gone unnoticed. In many of Specker’s photographs she uses strong use of line to direct the viewers eye and bold light and shadow adding a further linear element. Frequently, the colors are almost monochromatic to emphasize the formal aspects rather than color. Moreover, the author points out the tangibility of the textures in the images. Many of Specker’s photographs are taken of Carlo Mollino’s house, an influential Italian architect, and the images depict the home in a close up, intimate, and almost abstracted manner. Specker asks the viewer to see the house through a different viewpoint and consequently to view Mollino through a different lens. 

Google Reader Response 2

This week I decided to discuss the blog post about Heidi Romano from Lenscratch. Before I even started reading I thought that the aesthetic of her forest images were mesmerizing. Romano transforms a simple tree or a hillside into atmospheric emotive compositions. With each photograph, she draws the viewer’s attention to something so simply beautiful which may have otherwise passed unnoticed. When I began reading about the work, I gained more appreciation for the content. The photographs have a sense of fleetingness which made more sense as I understood the artists interest in time passing. Her interest in continually changing light reminded me of impressionist paintings. Initially I felt a sense of wonderment at the beautiful vast landscape. Upon understanding that one of the photographs unintentionally depicted a crime scene, the photographs became menacing and quiet. I thought of the romantic concept of the sublime and considered the rarities of finding such astonishment and fear in our contemporary world.

Moving onto her imagery of water, Romano mangers to create something both familiar but strange. While most of the photographs clearly depict water, there is something out of this world about them. Using a black background calls to mind the dark abyss of space flickering with stars (or water in the case of the photographs). They almost don’t seem to be situated within a particular place or time. These photographs are their own type of landscape hinting at a similar awe and fear as provided in the forest images.